Series and Parallel Capacitor Calculator
Calculate the equivalent capacitance of 2–20 capacitors in series or parallel. Enter supply voltage for ideal charge, per-capacitor voltage and stored energy.
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Result
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Calculation steps
Work through one step at a time or reveal the complete calculation. The steps use your current inputs.
How to calculate
Add capacitances in parallel, or add their reciprocals and invert for series. Total terminal charge is equivalent capacitance times supply voltage. For an ideal initially uncharged series chain, every capacitor stores the same charge magnitude.
parallel: C_eq=ΣC; series: 1/C_eq=Σ(1/C); Q=C_eqV; U=½C_eqV²
Worked example
100 μF and 200 μF in series give about 66.6666667 μF. At 12 V they carry 800 μC, with drops 8 V and 4 V, and store 0.0048 J total. In parallel they give 300 μF and store 0.0216 J.
Assumptions and input details
This is an ideal wholly series or wholly parallel network with positive capacitances and non-negative voltage. Series voltage sharing assumes initially uncharged capacitors and zero net charge at floating internal nodes. Leakage, tolerance, ESR, polarity, breakdown ratings, transient current and mixed networks are not modelled. The results do not determine safe component ratings. SI prefixes: mF=1e−3 F, μF=1e−6 F, nF=1e−9 F and pF=1e−12 F.
References: OpenStax: capacitors in series and parallel
Unit definitions
Unit selection is independent of language. Each selector contains only units for its physical quantity. Calculations use defined base units internally.
SI prefixes are explicit: for example, milli means one thousandth, micro one millionth and kilo one thousand. Changing a unit changes the interpretation of the entered number.
Using this calculator
Can I enter my own problem?
Yes. Replace the example values with your own inputs. The result, calculation steps, tables and applicable diagrams update from those inputs. Blank or invalid values clear the result; example values are never silently substituted for missing inputs.
Are the results exact?
Results use floating-point arithmetic and displayed rounding. Read the formula, assumptions and any stated data precision before interpreting the result.
Is my input uploaded?
The calculation runs in your browser. No account, file upload or external AI service is required. Inputs are not saved between page reloads.
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